


Henry’s (Not-Really) Guide to Superheroism

by local_dragon_haunt



Category: Henry Danger (TV)
Genre: Also there’s a crime wave, I’m so sorry but canon is pissing me off, Other, Which is another trope we stan, also Henry May or may not see ray as a parental or older brother figure, also Ray’s conveniently on vacation, basically an au where instead of losing his powers, because I have family issues, because I said so, body and mental torment uwu, found family is STRONG, henrys body says Gotta Go Fast, rated t because the teens curse like how normal teenagers curse, superpower upgrade, we love this trope, wildly and without warning
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-15
Updated: 2020-10-09
Packaged: 2021-02-27 20:34:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 18,762
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22731847
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/local_dragon_haunt/pseuds/local_dragon_haunt
Summary: So.Ray’s on Vacation, Henry’s Freaking Out, Jasper and Charlotte are overworked parents, and Schwoz is just There.Oh yeah, and there’s a crime wave.And there’s the even slighter issue that Henry is developing superspeed. Like Sonic-the-fucking-hedgehog superspeed.So this week is going great for Henry Hart so far.
Comments: 36
Kudos: 102





	1. In Which Henry’s Stomach turns into a Black Hole

**Author's Note:**

> I’m so sorry except I’m really not.
> 
> This will most likely NOT update on a schedule. I have about half of the story written right now, but I also have 40 other WIP’S that I like to switch in between at random times.

Charlotte had seen a lot of strange things in her life.

With best friends like a self-proclaimed ‘bucketeer’ who’s love interests always seem to try to kill her; and another who quite literally fights crime on a daily basis and still finds time to be a complete and utter fuckboy, it was kind of expected.

Aliens? Amateur. Being mind-controlled by a weirdly catchy song and developing super-strength to defeat Captain Man? Meh. Travelling to another dimension where everyone is evil? Trivial.

Working with technology that should be way beyond their years? Inspiring but alas, normalized with the amount of time she’s been working with it.

But to be honest? Walking into the Mancave that day to find Henry hunched over a bowl of chicken noodle soup on the ground surrounded by seven extra-large pizza boxes, three gallons of ice cream cartons, and four gallons of iced tea, all empty, was pretty weird.

Not supremely weird, but definitely weird enough for her to exclaim “Henry, what the genuine fuck are you doing?” upon stepping out of the elevator.

The blonde turned to his best friend, and mumbled something with a mouthful of pasta and chicken, making it impossible for the other teen to understand.

“Try that again, but without soup in your mouth this time.” She deadpanned, throwing her bag on the couch. She picked up one of the pizza boxes and wrinkled her nose as she tossed the cardboard on the floor next to where Henry had tossed most of the other boxes.

Henry swallowed the soup, and resisted another spoonful to reply. “I am starving, Charlotte. Absolutely starving!”

The girl looked around at the mess surrounding the blonde in disbelief as he shoveled another spoonful into his mouth. “How long ago did you even order this stuff? I thought you didn’t like the pizza from the Autosnacker.” She asked.

“forty-five minutes ago.” Henry mumbled through more pasta, “I couldn’t wait for pizza delivery.”

“You ate all of this in forty-five minutes?! Henry, you’re going to kill yourself! It’s physically impossible for your stomach to support this much food.” Charlotte squeaked as Henry then threw the spoon to the side and drank the broth directly out of the bowl.

He waited until the bowl was empty before answering. “I know! But it’s like I have a black hole in the bottom of my stomach, I can’t get full!” Henry said, standing up and pressing the order button on the Autosnacker. “I already ate everything I liked out of the fridge at home, too.”

Charlotte could only stare in slight amazement as Henry promptly ordered a plate of fettuccine alfredo and immediately started inhaling it.

“Okay, if you continue at this rate you’re going to completely drain the Autosnacker, and then Schwoz is going to have to go travel to wherever he gets the stuff for it and he will complain the entire way, so you need to stop now.” Charlotte said, checking her watch. “Besides, you were supposed to be on morning patrol twenty minutes ago!”

Henry, engrossed by the taste of the new pasta, lazily replied. “No? Ray does morning patrol alone because I have school to do.” He immediately shoveled a comedic amount of alfredo into his mouth afterwards.

Charlotte sighed and resisted the urge to slap her friend in the back of the head. “Okay, first off, Ray’s out on vacation, remember? Schwoz should be back from dropping him off at the airport in a few hours considering he needs to make sure he actually gets on the plane this time. And second: it’s Saturday, ya dimbus.”

Henry blinked and checked his watch in bewilderment, obviously having forgotten somehow. “It is…? Huh.”

Two plates of alfredo and a half gallon of orange juice later, Jasper came down into the Mancave and looked upon the sea of empty food cartons.

“You know, I was gonna ask why Piper called me screaming about how all of the food in her fridge was gone, but I’m pretty sure I know why now.” The sixteen-year-old commented as Charlotte ran around Henry with medical supplies, checking his vitals.

“He’s been eating nonstop since 7:30 this morning, apparently.” Charlotte mumbled, poking the blonde’s stomach, which wasn’t even protruding like one’s normally would after eating. “I’m running some tests to see what’s going on.”

Jasper gaped as Charlotte handed him the supplies, taking over the job as she ran to the computer. “Dude, this is like fifty pounds of food! You’re going to explode!” He exclaimed. Henry only hummed.

“That’s what I told him. Except without the inaccurate descriptions of physics.” Charlotte said as Jasper examined the other blonde with a more practiced manner.

Ten minutes later, Henry was eating just plain honey out of the cute little bear container while Charlotte transferred the data Jasper collected to the computer. Jasper had ordered an omelet from the Autosnacker, and sat down next to the sidekick to eat it.

“Have you found out what’s wrong with Henry yet?” He asked, taking a bite out of the omelet.

Charlotte shook her head, eyes never leaving the screen. “Well, I’ve figured out what’s wrong, but I don’t know why it’s doing what it’s doing.” She said, bewilderment edged on her voice. “Seriously, Henry, these vitals are off the charts!”

Henry, being the only one who wasn’t worried that he might actually be dying, just hummed again and stole the rest of Jasper’s omelet using his Hyper Motility. Said blonde promptly gasped and then pouted as he watched his best friend scarf the meal down.

“I was eating that, you know…”

“Oh this is so sad Alexa play Decpacito.”

“Henry that meme is dead and you know it.”

“And Henry will probably join them meme if you don’t let me speak.” Charlotte chastised.

Henry only rolled his eyes and turned to Charlotte, who was scrolling through the data. “Well sorry, so, what do you think is wrong with me?” He asked, taking a swig of the water Charlotte had made him drink instead of the soda he wanted to order.

Charlotte didn’t answer right away, as she was in deep thought. Jasper leaned back on the couch to see if he could get a glimpse of the screen. She scanned the data from today compared to the vitals of Henry’s body from a month ago with squinted eyes, highlighting a few details here and there before turning to the two boys.

“I’m not certain as of right now, but I think—”

Suddenly, the emergency alarm was blaring through the Mancave. Out of instinct, Charlotte immediately turned around and slapped the button, moving her research to another screen and pulling up the situation.

“Ugh, looks like there’s a robbery in progress at the Pear Store right next to the park. Henry, you need to blow a bubble and get down there.” She said, turning back to her friend, who was already pulling out his gumball tube.

“This is why we don’t skip morning patrol, boy.” She emphasized.

Henry grumbled, and chugged the rest of the liter of water before popping a gumball in his mouth. “What were you about to say before the alarm went off?” He asked in the midst of chewing.

Charlotte waved it off. “It’s just a theory, and assuming all goes according to plan, Schwoz should be back before you get back anyways. I’ll run it by him and see if it’s plausible.”

Henry nodded, transforming into Kid Danger and heading towards the tubes.

Charlotte turned back to the screens and pulled the lab results back up. Jasper stood up and stretched.

“I might as well go open up Junk n’ Stuff.” He announced, turning to Henry. “Stay safe, Bud. You don’t need to give Ray more anxiety about leaving Swellview than he already has.”

Henry gave a thumbs up and flashed his signature cocky smile, before heading up the tube.


	2. In which it’s Blatantly Obvious why Ray has Separation Anxiety

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Henry shows up at the robbery, gets injured, and then is completely oblivious to what happens to his injury.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow a whole week later. Is this what being productive feels like? 
> 
> Anyways.

Henry arrived at the Pear Store a quarter hour later to find three people in masks stuffing electronics and the contents of the cash register into a duffle bag.

It took a bit longer for the robbers to notice Kid Danger in the doorway considering Ray wasn’t there to smash a window or announce their arrival, but it wasn’t too long before they noticed him.

And then immediately pulled out two guns and point them at him.

Kid Danger simply rolled his eyes and let out a small groan in the back of his throat. “Okay, look guys. Let’s get this over with—the silent alarm’s already gone off and I’m still hungry and we all know you’re going to be in jail within the hour so just do me a favor and put the guns down.”

The robbers glanced at one another, as if thinking. Henry thought that they might consider just surrendering.

And then two shots rang out. Of course, they weren’t a problem, Kid Danger just ducked out of the way of the whizzing bullets. He whipped his body back around to face the robbers. Two still had their guns trained on him while the last one was stuffing as much into their duffel bag as he could with a vigor that implied that they weren’t planning on sticking around much longer.

“Really? We’re going to do this the hard way?” Kid Danger deadpanned. One of the robbers tightened their grip on their gun—they must be from out of town if they were surprised that the bullets didn’t hit him. (They were considerably harder to dodge than anything else, but it was still doable.)

The blonde looked down and nudged his toe under the edge of a pearpad on the ground, kicking it and causing it to flip up into his hand. He then chucked the device at the gun-dude on the right, hitting him right in the head and causing him to yell and drop his gun.

Henry then took the chance to charge at the man, grabbing his gun and dodging another bullet from the robber on the left. He then straightened up and trained the stolen gun on him.

“Dude, seriously. I’m not up for this today.” He said in annoyance, and then knocked the man in the head with the butt of the gun, effectively knocking him out.

Suddenly there were hands around his waist as the first robber picked Kid Danger up and tried to grab the gun back from him. Henry promptly brought his elbow down on the man’s shoulder blade, twisted, and kicked him in the gut. The man let out a grunt and then threw Kid Danger against a display case, causing it to shatter and cave in on him.

Henry tapped into his Hyper Motility and delivered another kick, this time to the man’s chest, effectively sending him…all the way across the room?

The blond blinked in confusion for a moment. He knew the speed of his powers increased the strength of his attacks (Schwoz had explained it to him shortly after he had defeated Drax), but he had never sent someone clear across a room before.

The man didn’t get back up, he was obviously knocked out as well. Kid Danger brushed some of the bigger pieces of splintered wood and shattered glass off himself before sitting up. He winced at a pain in his shoulder and reached behind him, pulling a shard of glass out of his shoulder. He threw it to the side, and went to tie up the two robbers, but there was another distinctive click of a gun being cocked.

Ah, crap. The third robber. He forgot Ray wasn’t here. He normally handled the others.

Kid Danger whirled around to confront the third robber, who had zipped up the duffle bag and thrown it over their shoulder. They had their gun trained directly at him, and for the first time in a long time, they didn’t hesitate to just straight up fire at him.

And Henry wasn’t expecting that.

Sure, it’s not like he doesn’t deal with guns on a daily basis, but usually the people behind them hesitate to use them or just use them as leverage.

Ray had trained Henry to act on that moment of contemplation, that sense of overwhelming power, because sometimes it could be the only opening you could find.

That wasn’t the case with this last robber. There was no hesitation, unlike their partners. They just straight up waited until Kid Danger was off guard and fired at him.

And Henry didn’t have time to react—well he wouldn’t have, anyway if something really weird hadn’t happened.

When the gun fired, Henry felt a surge of adrenaline, or at least adrenaline was the closest thing he could describe it to, go through his body. It was like everything in his body was suddenly dunked in a million gallons of coffee, or something. His blood was rushing through his veins and his heart was pounding at an indescribable rate and it felt absolutely amazing. It felt like he could sprint for a hundred years, or climb Mount Everest in a day, or jump to the moon and back.

And Henry was so engrossed in the feeling, he didn’t even realize that the world around him was moving in slow-mo. Not exponentially slow, but like that phone camera setting slow. He could see the bullet coming towards him at about the rate a basketball would travel through the air.

He simply…ducked out of the way. His body seemed to look a bit hazy. But it was weird because his head was as clear as ever. And was that lightning crackling in the corner of his vision? Kid Danger watched the bullet pass him and nail into the wall behind him, and then turned back to the last robber. He reached to his belt and pulled out his laser, pointing it at them and firing.

Suddenly, the feeling was gone, and everything snapped back into normal speed. The last robber collapsed on their bag in a limp position, and Henry suddenly.

Felt.

Awful.

Complete 180 to what he had felt less than a second ago.

Whatever just happened had just drained all the energy from his body. Henry’s head was pounding, his limbs were shaking, he was gasping for breath. He was seeing black dots in his vision, he was so hungry his stomach felt like it was eating itself. He felt like he hadn’t slept in a week—no, worse than that. He felt like he had actually done all of the things he had wanted to do when he was on that energy high, or whatever it was.

Kid Danger collapsed to his hands and knees, shaking his head. He focused on breathing for a few minutes as police sirens finally sounded in the distance.

He literally felt like he might pass out.

He sat there on his hands and knees as the police stormed the place and handcuffed the robbers. He gave his statement and account of what happened while still sitting on the ground. The officers seemed a bit confused but didn’t question him about it. One of them offered him their hand to pull them up and he accepted more or less to not be rude.

There had been some growing tensions between Captain Man and the police station lately. Ray was getting fed up with them for letting criminals go or just plain letting them escape among other things. Henry was starting to get angry with it too—the police never fought actual crime anymore. They pulled over speeders and busted the occasional drug deal, but they always left the heavy duty stuff to Captain Man and Kid Danger. They never even bothered to offer backup anymore. They just showed up to clean up the mess at the end.

But nonetheless, they still needed to be on the station’s good side, so they have to put up with its corrupted system.

Kid Danger swayed on his feet a bit, and leaned against the wall, minding the shoulder that was punctured by the piece of glass. He said goodbye to the police as they cleared the store. He rested for a minute more, groaning and nursing his head before his phone buzzed.

He pulled it out and pressed the device to his ear. “Hey, Charlotte.” He greeted, “What’s going on?”

“There’s someone spray-painting some graffiti on the park building, you need to get down there.” The other teen’s voice sounded through the phone; Henry let out a groan of annoyance.

“No, Charlotte something really weird just happened and I feel like crap. I think I’m dehydrated and I’m pretty sure there’s a good-sized cut in my back from a glass shard. I can’t fight right now.”

There was a pause on the other end and the sound of shuffling papers as Charlotte thought. “Are you positive you 100 percent can’t do it?”

There was a pause as Kid Danger sat up, reaching his left arm up above his head. He felt the twinge of the wound in his shoulder, and let out a gasp of surprise as it almost sent his weakened body to its knees again.

“Yup, nope, can’t do it.” He breathed, “Is Schwoz back now? I’m pretty sure I have some glass still in there somewhere.”

“Yeah, yeah, he just got here, we’ll get some medical stuff out and have it ready when you get back.” Charlotte hesitated. “Also, elaborate on the weird thing when you get here, okay?”

Kid Danger gave a noise of agreement before pulling the phone away from his ear.

“And make sure you let the cops know about the vandalizer!” His friend’s voice sounded through the device.

“I will, bye, Charlotte.” Henry said and hung up the phone.

Kid Danger was back down in the Mancave twenty minutes later, and on the couch with his vest and under armor off within another minute.

Charlotte handed Henry a container of Gatorade as Jasper checked the injury. There was a lot of bustling around for a few minutes before the other blond indeed pulled out a shard of glass that had snapped off the original out of Henry’s shoulder.

Henry grunted at the pain, and took another sip of the Gatorade as Schwoz checked his vitals again. There was a noise of surprise from Jasper as he stopped cleaning the wound.

“What is it?” Henry asked, trying to stretch his neck to see the injury. Jasper reached over and grabbed a pair of magnifying goggles to get a better look at the wound and blinked a few times. He then leaned closer to the injury and squinted, not believing what he was seeing.

“That’s….unsettling” He thought out loud in a very not-Jasper way.

Charlotte moved beside him to see what the commotion was about. It took a few moments for her eyes to see what the other teen was seeing, but when she did, they bulged.

“Woah…” She said in amazement and slight disgust.

Henry felt a bit of anxiety building. “What is it? Charlotte, Jasper, what’s wrong?”

There was another prominent pause as both were transfixed at whatever was happening to him, before the coca-skinned teen blinked a few times. “Sorry, Henry but…your wound is…healing itself.”

“…Is...is that not what they’re supposed to do…?”

“Well, yeah, but they usually don’t heal fast enough for us to watch it in real time.”

“I am absolutely sorry, but what did you just say to me?” Henry started again in disbelief.

Charlotte sighed and grabbed a handheld mirror from the medical rack, holding it up to the blonde’s shoulder and positioning it so that Henry could see what was happening.

Henry’s skin, and what little muscles the piece of glass had shredded, were quite literally mending themselves in front of their eyes. Not at a grotesquely fast rate, but definitely fast enough for them to see the progress.

“What!?” Henry shrieked, jumping up and trying to force his arm forward more so he could see it directly, “That’s not possible!”

“Well, it is, but it’s called super-healing.” Charlotte corrected. “What shouldn’t be possible is you having that power…” She trailed off. Schwoz picked up his tablet and tapped a few things here and there.

The man, who had been watching the whole thing in an uncharacteristic bout of silence, came up to Henry and poked the wound.

Henry jumped in pain, and whirled around to his best friend. “Dude!” He exclaimed, annoyed.

The man ignored his exclamation, and only muttered something along the lines of “that’s peculiar” under his breath.

Henry, knowing that he wasn’t going to get any response from the man, just groaned and rubbed his temple.

“This day is going just great.” He complained, mostly speaking to himself, “First, my stomach seemingly transforms into a bottomless pit, second, time decides it wants to go all wonky on me when I’m fighting, and now I have seemingly developed super-healing? Could today get any weirder?” He asked, looking up at the roof of the mancave.

“Wait, wait, wait, rewind:” Charlotte said, watching as her friend made his way over to the Autosnacker, “what happened when you were fighting?”

Henry waited until his meatball sub appeared to answer, taking the time it took for it to be prepared to think.

“I actually don’t know what happened.” He admitted, moving to sit back down on the couch, “One of the robbers fired a gun at me and suddenly I was like experiencing the ultimate adrenaline rush—except everything around me slowed way down for some reason.”

Charlotte immediately blinked, confusion obvious on her face. “Did anything else happen that you remember?”

Henry paused for a moment, recalling what had happened. “When that happened, I felt like I could do anything, like literally every muscle in my body was buzzing with energy, but as soon as I snapped out of it, poof!”—he made a small exploding motion with his hands— “It was like whatever that was took all of that energy, and any energy I had before that, out of me. I almost fainted.” He admitted.

Everyone had similar looks of bewilderment on their faces, and there was more silence as Charlotte tapped away on the computer.

“Oh yeah, and I also kicked someone twenty-five feet into a wall.” Henry added before taking a bite out of the sub. He ate all of it in two minutes, and went up and ordered two more.

He let out a somewhat anxious sigh as he stared at the sandwiches apprehensively. “What’s wrong with me, guys?” He asked. Jasper set a comforting hand on his shoulder.

Schwoz moved the information he had collected onto the monitor, and started to analyze it with Charlotte’s earlier notes.

Charlotte stood up to let Schwoz sit down. “Well, the reason you can’t seem to get full is because your metabolism has suddenly spiked to inhumane rates…which means that your body must be trying to support or fight something, but what?”

“Maybe Henry’s growing an extra limb.” Schwoz said, scrolling through the data. The three teens in the room stared at the man in a semi-horrified way.

“I would hope not…” Jasper mumbled. Henry and Charlotte nodded in agreement.

Schwoz shrugged the comment off, and instead minimized the data, picking up the Pearpad again. “I want to run some tests on Henry.” He explained, “heartrate, top running speed, and how his Hyper Motility is doing.”

Henry groaned. “Now? I’m not sure I’m up for doing it right—”

Schwoz walked past the gear doorway before he could even finish the sentence.

“…I guess I’m getting my workout clothes on then.”

“Press F in the chat.”

“Fuck you.”

“That’s not what the F stands for but valid.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh worms.


	3. So it Turns out Henry Broke a World Record

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Charlotte and Schwoz run some tests on Henry, and then Jasper joins the other two teens to play video games while Schwoz detwrmines the Diagnosis

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So how about that new episode, eh? 
> 
> Henry is CANONLY 19???? who gave the writers the right to do this.

Henry was sprinting on the treadmill, completing the last of the tests Schwoz wanted to record. Charlotte was off to the side holding something similar to a speedometer, and Schwoz was operating the computer the data was feeding into.

Jasper had gone back upstairs to tend Junk n’ Stuff again since his lunch break was over, but they promised to keep him updated on whatever was going on.

Suddenly Schwoz reached up and shut the treadmill off, letting Henry come to a gradual stop. He panted for a few minutes, drinking a bit of water as he let his heart rate settle, before turning towards the two.

“So? How fast was I pushing?” He asked, wiping some sweat off his brow.

Charlotte was furiously typing on a calculator, trying to find the mistake the machine made in its calculations because there was no _way_ Henry was going that fast.

“Henry, are you sure you weren’t using your Hyper Motility?” she asked, seeing that she kept on coming up with the same result.

Henry nodded. “If I was, I didn’t notice it.” He added, “Why?”

There was a pregnant pause as Charlotte and Schwoz shared their data, making sure that there definitely weren’t any mistakes.

“Your average speed was 41.3 miles per hour.” Schwoz said metter-of-factly.

Henry raised his eyebrows. “Wow, that’s cool! What was my speed last time, 17?”

Charlotte let out a nervous laugh. “Cool? _Cool_?! Henry, you just absolutely shattered the world record! You want to know what it was?”

Henry opened his mouth to answer, but Charlotte didn’t give him time. “27.8 miles per hour! That was the world record held by a professional runner in the world championship! You beat that by 13.5 miles per hour!”

Henry blinked for a few seconds, before beaming. “Yooo, someone call Guinness, put me on the records!”

There was a split second where Charlotte looked like she literally might explode. She stood up, stuttering in complete and utter frustration, before straightening up, and walking calmly into the bathroom.

* * *

Jasper suddenly heard a faint, high pitched sound coming from somewhere. He dug a finger into his ear and listened again. Huh. Wonder what it was.

* * *

Charlotte walked back out of the bathroom a minute later, composure regained.

Schwoz started combing the data he had collected, but continued to shoot some offhand glances at the girl every now and then, as if he was afraid she was going to attack him.

It was estimated to take a few hours for Schwoz to fully go through all the test results, so Charlotte and Henry decided to turn on the assortment of gaming equipment in the Mancave and play a few games to keep occupied. They played into the evening, and Jasper joined them around five when Junk n’ Stuff closed, swapping remotes with Henry so he could go make a brief crime check on the computer in substitute for patrol that evening. (Charlotte, in a complete 180 to her insistence that patrol was essential that morning, said that she would physically sit on him if he tried to go out.)

They were in the middle of the last lap on Rainbow Road in Mariokart on the Wii, when Schwoz came back into the room, turning the TV off just as Jasper was about to cross the finish line. (He was in seventh place, but still ahead of both Henry and Charlotte in ninth and tenth place respectively)

There were a few choice words and a couple thrown controls at the man that he used his clipboard and tablet to block.

“You couldn’t have waited three more seconds?!” Jasper shrieked, Henry pointed at his friend and nodded in agreement. Charlotte was planking on the floor in an endless aura of ‘are you shitting me?’

Schwoz shook his head, well aware of what he did and not caring. “Well do you want to hear the results or not?” He asked.

There was a series of grumbling from all three teens before they all eventually agreed.

Schwoz pulled the results up on the tablet and scanned them over, before clearing his throat. “Henry’s metabolism has increased 5 times, and that is expected to double by the end of the week.” He started.

Henry’s stomach growled as if to prove the man’s point. Henry looked at it for a second.

“Do you mind?” He asked, “I’m figuring out what’s wrong with me.”

Schwoz continued to read. “His regular speed has increased by 2.43 percent, and his Hyper Motility has increased by 2.9 percent—his highest recorded speed of 110 miles per hour has gone up to 209 miles per hour. Both of those are expected to increase by the end of the week, too.”

Charlotte choked. She wasn’t even drinking water. Jasper was. She just forgot how to breathe for a second.

“Do you know why this is happening?” She asked, rushing up and grabbing Schwoz’s clipboard of notes.

The man let out a sound of annoyance, and huffed. “I was getting to that!” He defended, scrolling down on the tablet.

“Well, spit it out, you oddly short man!” Jasper exclaimed.

Schwoz gasped, pressing the tablet against his chest. “Rude!” He exclaimed, “If you are going to insult me I do not think I want to tell you!”

Henry rolled his eyes and groaned. “Schwoz, just tell us, please? Jasper says he’s sorry, aren’t you, Jasper?” Henry said, giving his friend a pointed look. The other blonde nodded in agreement.

“Yeah, yeah. Sorry, Schwoz, that was rude or whatever.”

The genius nodded in acknowledgment, before taking the tablet away from his chest and tapping a couple things.

“The diagnosis is—“

Suddenly the emergency alarm went off again, drowning out what Schwoz said.

The three teens screamed in annoyance, and Charlotte jumped over and slapped the button, attempting to silence it so that Schwoz could continue his sentence—

“ _Jeff, you fat idiot, get out of my car_!” Screeched a very familiar voice through the speakers of the Mancave.

Henry snapped to attention in a weird mixture of annoyance and concern as he recognized Piper’s voice.

“Uh, this is the Captain Man hotline, what is your emergency?” He asked, thankful the setting wasn’t on video chat.

Piper screamed at Jeff for a few more seconds before letting out a huff of a breath. “ _Jeff, the_ stupidest _criminal ever, is trying to steal my car_.” She said, obviously aiming the man’s title towards him as she raised her voice on the other end.

Henry resisted the urge to groan, rolling his eyes. “And you called us instead of the police because..?”

Piper let out a grunt that was probably a kick, because a pained cry from Jeff came out of the speakers shortly after. The twelve year old then gave her signature huff again. “ _I did. It went straight to voicemail. You know, Kid Danger, you sound a lot like my brother with that attitude and frankly, it’s annoying._ ”

The gumball Henry popped into his mouth thankfully covered up the sound of scared surprise that he made when the comment was said.

“W-well that’s a funny coincidence, because there’s no way I’m not your brother. I-I mean there’s no way we’re related. As in...we don’t share parents. Or any blood relation. At...at all. Yeah.”

Charlotte facepalmed beside him and gave him a death glare. Henry ignored it, and instead blew a bubble. “Send me your location and I’ll be there in a little bit.” He said to Piper.

“ _Ugh, hurry, Jeff’s just thrown my keys into a tree so I can’t get them. Hey, you know that you can’t get them now, either?!_ ” She yelled, thankfully bringing her phone back from her mouth.

The tween hung up the phone and Charlotte let out a long groan. “This is the most calls we’ve gotten in one day—well, besides crime waves, that is…”

Henry agreed with a similar groan, and headed towards the tubes.

“Wait! Don’t you want to know what’s wrong with you?” Jasper asked. Schwoz nodded in agreement.

Charlotte chimed in before Henry answered, adding her two cents. “Plus, I’m not sure it’s a good idea for you to be going out when we know that this is gonna get worse, Henry…”

Henry pressed the button on his belt, watching as his tube slid down around him. “I can wait until after—plus, it’s Jeff. The worst he can do is sit on me…” he trailed off. “Speaking of, if it takes longer than thirty minutes to be back he probably did just that.”

“But—“

Henry didn’t hear Schwoz’s interjection over his shout of ‘up the tube!’, and he was gone before the man could get another word out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, no idea when this will update
> 
> Thanks for reading :)  
> ~local dragon haunt


	4. Kid Danger's an Unlicensed Lumberjack

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Henry goes to check out the situation Piper called in, and it’s debatable whether he actually did anything useful.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oop it’s corona time.
> 
> My college has officially moved to online classes for the rest of the semester and I barely have the self discipline to update my fanfiction yet alone do assignments jdckkdks
> 
> Anybody else’s schools doing the same thing?
> 
> (Edited to fix a typo in the title bsjxjxsk)
> 
> Viva La on with the story.

Kid Danger arrived on scene to find Jeff knocked out cold on the hood of their dad’s car. Piper was nearby, inspecting her nails on her left hand as she texted with her right. 

“Took yah long enough.” She said, quickly taking a picture of him with her phone. “I knocked him out with some random bat I found lying around.”

Kid Danger gave her a strange look, not so much about the bat fact, but about the picture. Seeing this, Piper provided an answer. 

“I’m the president of your fanclub, remember? I need to keep them updated on everything.” The tween glanced the sidekick up and down. “Speaking of… where’s Captain Man?”

She peeked behind Kid Danger as if she were expecting his boss to somehow pop up behind him.

Henry groaned inwardly as he watched his sister start a video interview on her phone. Usually he wouldn’t mind showing off in front of a camera, but he was tired and hungry and it was his sister, which just made it three times as annoying. 

“It’s just me right now.” The blond answered, bringing out some handcuffs provided by the SPD and cuffing Jeff. The man didn't react much besides a faint groan that suggested he would have a headache once he woke up.

Piper scoffed in disgust at the criminal before continuing the conversation. “Why?”

Kid Danger shrugged, grunting as he pulled Jeff off of the car and onto the ground. He made sure the idiot’s head didn't slam against the ground again, even if he couldn't care less. The blonde had managed to contact the police on the way to the scene, so he could hear their sirens in the distance. 

“He’s out of town for a week or so. That’s all I’m allowed to say on the matter.” 

Piper raised her eyebrows in interest, stepping onto the curb and closer to the sidekick as a cop car pulled up next to them. 

“So it’s just you for the next week?” She asked. Henry nodded, shifting his weight to his right foot. 

“Yup, just me.”

The tween hummed in a somewhat surprised manner. “So Captain Man is finally letting you deal with crime on your own for a change?” 

Kid Danger huffed, stepping aside as a couple cops grabbed the still-unconscious Jeff and hauled him away. A small stab of offense jabbed at his chest, and he was quick to become flippant.

“Look, my job here is done,” He snapped, looking to get back to the Mancave. “I was kinda in the middle of something when called so—“

“Hold on, my keys are still stuck in the tree!” Piper interjected, pointing the camera of her phone up to the branches above them and zooming in on them. 

Henry looked up, and bit back a groan. “Well that’s unfortunate isn’t it.” He paused. “Good luck with that.” 

He turned and started walking away as Piper stuttered, focusing the phone back on Kid Danger. “You're not gonna help me?”

Henry felt a shit-eating grin form, and he spun around on his heel. “My job is to fight crime, not to get keys out of trees.”

“But you didn’t even fight Jeff! I did!” 

“Yeah but you didn’t have to.”

“But I did.”

“Well congratulations, do you want a badge for that?”

“Well if you’re not going to get my keys out of the tree, then yes I want a badge!” Piper complained, watching as Kid Danger continued to back away. 

Henry rolled his eyes at his sister’s attitude. Ignoring her would be the best option if he wanted to get back as soon as possible, he decided, and he went to turn his back to her.

...only to trip on a fucking rock. 

Henry was not normally one to trip easily. He had always had a good sense of balance, and it had only gotten better as his combat training with Ray had progressed, so the sidekick chalked that fact up to the reason why everything went into the weird energy-high-slow-mo-magic mode thing that happened before. 

He didn't really process it, it was just a quick fact he happened to catch onto amidst the 'oh shit the ground is no longer beneath me' sensation, but it was enough for him to completely lose the ability to regain his balance. Maybe it was his impaired logic because, well, he had a slight impression in the back of his mind that because everything else was moving slowly he would too and be able to grab onto something before he completely bit the dust. But he was still moving normally. 

A noise of surprise escaped Kid Danger, and he reached out his hand to catch himself, only to find that there was nothing there. He instead stumbled a few feet, before knocking directly into the tree that held Piper’s keys. 

And...kept on going. Unlike the rest of the world, which Henry could definitely tell was moving even slower than the last time, the tree decided that it would move just as normally as he was. 

Henry didn’t even have time to process it before a loud rip sounded through the air. Roots were suddenly beneath his feet, launching him up slightly and throwing Kid Danger to the ground a foot or two away. It was followed not long after by a crash as the entire fucking tree then hit the ground. 

The super-powered teen untangled himself from the roots that had caught his feet, and scrambled up. He stared in shock at the mess of leaves and wooden limbs that were now settled in the front lawn of some poor family’s house. He felt that he should feel a bit worse than he did, but the energy high was in full effect now, and the buzzing that was ricocheting through his body was numbing the rest of his senses.

He was quick to turn back to Piper, whose face, still in slow motion, was slowly contorting to one of confusion-before-realization. Her camera was still pointing at the scene. The police were inching their heads in his direction too, suspended in a weird crouch between the road and the seats of the cop car. 

Henry had half a mind to grab Piper’s phone before the sensation stopped—the idea of Piper posting whatever had just happened settled weirdly in his stomach and if he was able to delete the video he could pass it off as Piper forgetting to hit the record button. But as soon as the thought crossed his mind, everything snapped back into regular time. 

And again, Henry felt indescribably terrible. 

Kid Danger’s vision actually went black, and he fell to the ground. Any remaining breath in his now heaving lungs was knocked out in a pitiful ‘Oof’ as he landed on his side. 

There was a shriek as Piper finally realized the tree had fallen, and there were similar exclamations from the police as well. 

Henry’s vision was swimming, and his brain felt like it was drifting along the ocean floor—the feeling of immense pressure and dizziness was unbearable. 

Through the black dots in his eyesight, he could see the blurry shape of Piper rushing up to him. She was quick to kneel down, but was obviously making sure that the camera didn't shake too much. 

“Oh, my god!” She exclaimed, Henry groaned at how far away her voice sounded. “Kid Danger, are you okay?!”

Said blond tried to sit up, nursing his head as his shaky limbs haphazardly supported him. “‘Mm fine.” He mumbled, squinting as the police hurried up next to Piper.

“What the hell was that?” the tween exclaimed, staring at the fallen tree behind Kid Danger.

Henry accepted a helping hand from one of the police officers as he attempted to haul himself to his feet. Gravity was hard-pressed on keeping him down, though, and it was hard for his arm to even support his weight. After a few seconds of struggling the second police officer offered his help and finally managed to get the sidekick to his feet.

Piper snapped a few pictures of the fallen tree (some new feature that allowed you to take pictures while you recorded) as Kid Danger’s knees buckled under his weight. He swayed haphazardly for a bit, still nursing his head as Piper walked around the tree, probably looking for her keys.

“...you mean you didn’t see what happened?” Henry asked his sister after quite a while. He honestly could have just stayed silent and it wouldn't have made a difference. He watched as Piper, still considering blurry and with a double or two, bent down and crawled under a few branches.

“No, one minute you turn to walk away,”—there was some grunting as she reached for something— “and I blinked, and suddenly both you and the tree were in completely different places.”

There was a snap of a twig and she wriggled back out from under the limbs shortly after, keys in hand. The tween threw them up in the air and caught them in her spare hand with a clink, before turning back to Kid Danger.

“Do you know what happened?” She asked, the suspicious tone that was usually reserved to Henry Hart coming through. The police car sped off behind them as the two officers headed off for the station.

Kid Danger gulped, eyes darting to his right instinctively. Usually Ray answered the questions that centered around sensitive information. He knew that he wasn't there, but muscle memory was hard to overcome. The teen refocused on Piper, who had her phone trained on him once again.

“Um…” He trailed off, losing his balance briefly. He zoned out for a second as he watched the record button blink rhythmically from her side of the screen.

“I...gotta go.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What if I started putting random vine and tik tok quotes at the end notes of my chapters.
> 
> “So it turns out that dogs can NOT contract COVID-19...good thing I’m a bitch”  
> ~joeyjenson0/tiktok 
> 
> .....I mean why not right?
> 
> Until next time or whatever,
> 
> ~LocalDragonHaunt


	5. In Which Henry is Going Through Puberty^2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Henry gets back to the Mancave, finds out piper has published his crimes against botany, and finally discovers what’s making him Go Crazy Go Stupid

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please don’t expect updates this frequently ever again, I’m making this a special occasion since the finale was tonight (well, last night considering it’s 12 am lmao) and it’s just hitting me.
> 
> Anywho, I personally liked the finale—mostly the trio’s ending, but I’ll still probably watch Danger Force to keep up with the Lore lol.
> 
> Speaking of lore, I added my own personal headcanons to this story—something to make sense of the complete inaccuracy the writers did to Ray’s superpowers. This is the chapter where they really start coming in. Idk if the science is too accurate, but it’s whatever.

Henry stumbled into the Mancave fifteen minutes later, and was immediately tackled by Jasper and Charlotte.

“What happened out there!?” They both exclaimed, ignoring their friends look of complete and utter surprise. 

“W-wha...how do you know the weird thing happened?” He asked, pressing his fingers to his temple in discomfort and nearly collapsing on the couch. 

Charlotte handed Henry a bottle of gatorade while Jasper sat down next to him. “It’s all over the Internet.” Charlotte explained as the teen gulped down the entire liter in less than a minute. 

Said blond would have done a spit-take, but he was too worn out to do it. So instead his eyes just bulged as if they wanted to jump out of his head. 

“What?!” 

“Yeah, Piper posted the interview like right after you left; it’s already got, like, 20,000 hits.” Jasper said, pulling up his phone and going to the nearest safari page. “Me and Charlotte are betting whether or not it makes it into the Top Trending list.”

The coca skinned girl slapped Jasper in the back of the head, before handing Henry a bucket of chicken pucks. “What Jasper meant to say was ‘gee Henry, are you okay? What happened, would you like to explain what the camera didn’t capture?’”

Henry swallowed a piece of chicken, before giving his friends a confused look. “What do you mean the camera didn’t capture it? The tree fell right in front of it!”

Charlotte pressed her lips into a thin line. “Well yes, technically it should have captured it, but it didn’t.”

Henry quirked an eyebrow. “What? That’s impossible.”

“We slowed it down frame by frame. There’s nothing captured that shows the tree falling. It’s just like—a before and after picture.” Charlotte deadpanned, pulling up the video on her tablet and showing Henry the two frames. 

The teen squinted in confusion at the images; Jasper snuck a piece of chicken out of his bucket. “That makes no sense!” Henry exclaimed, grabbing the tablet from Charlotte and flipping back and forth between the two images, “Since everything but me and the tree slowed down to a near crawl, shouldn’t this first frame have the tree falling?”

Charlotte’s brow furrowed, and she cupped her head in her hands in utter embarrassment. “Okay, first off I’m just going to ignore your complete misunderstanding as to how cameras work, and second off...I don’t think that the world slowed down.”

Henry scarfed down another chicken puck before turning to his friend. “What do you mean?”

Jasper and Charlotte shared a look, one that the last teen in the room could only register as concern, before Schwoz hustled into the room.

“Great, you’re back! Have you told Henry about his superspeed yet?”

There were groans from both Jasper and Charlotte as they turned to the genius in anger. “Well now we did!” Jasper exclaimed. Henry’s only response was to stare in shock.

“My what!?” He yelled, and attempted to stand up—but only succeeded in falling back into the couch as his legs were the equivalent of two soggy noodles.

Schwoz tapped on his tablet a bit, before handing his lab results over to Henry, who snatched it from his hands and scrolled through them. 

‘Diagnosis: Superspeed’ was staring straight at him in large letters in what would be a comical way in literally any other situation. 

Henry stared at the words for a whole minute, processing what it meant, before looking back up at the other three in the room, who were looking at him in a mixture of concern and fear. 

“Wha...why am I getting superspeed?” He asked, voice cracking a bit. 

“Hyper Motility in its true definition is really just an underdeveloped form of Superspeed.” Schwoz started, taking the tablet back from Henry. 

“Getting just Hyper Motility in itself is a very tedious process and requires experts. When we hired Schwabbit and Kooschtello, we thought they knew what they were doing. Apparently they did not. Waste of 200 dollars…” The genius grumbled. 

Henry just gaped for a minute, Charlotte and Jasper thought he might have gone into shock. The blonde continued staring at Schwoz until Jasper waved a hand frantically in front of his face, then he shook his head. 

“W-Wait hold on: so how did my Hyper Motility turn into superspeed?!” He asked. Schwoz shrugged. 

“Puberty.” He answered outright. “Schwabbit and Kooschtello were supposed to add an enzyme to the mix of poisons so that the powers and hormones caused by puberty would repulse one another, but apparently they did not.”

Henry groaned, rubbing his hands over his face, and leaned back in the couch. He was exhausted, hungry, dehydrated, and felt like crap all because of some form of-of…

“So you’re saying all of these things that are happening to me is some sort of Super Puberty?” Henry complained.

Charlotte shrugged. “More or less.” She snorted. 

Henry groaned again, hands still covering his eyes. “Great. You know, most teenagers only have to go through one embarrassing change in their adolescence.” 

“Most teenagers also don’t fight crime on a daily basis.” Charlotte chastised, bringing the blond another drink. 

Henry begrudgingly accepted the bottle, and hid a pout by taking a long sip. 

He thought while he was drinking. 

Superspeed. He was developing superspeed. As in like Sonic-the-fucking-Hedgehog superspeed. This was just great. 

“So the video didn’t capture the tree falling, not because the whole world was moving slower, but because Henry was moving faster?” Jasper clarified, looking up from a text on his phone. Charlotte nodded. 

“It makes sense. And because you were moving so fast”—she turned back to Henry mid-sentence—“the rest of the world just seemed like it slowed down.” 

Henry’s brow furrowed, and he slumped onto the table in front of him. He fiddled with the half empty water bottle for a bit. “But everything around me was slower than the first time. By a good half percent…”

“That is expected. You probably will not reach your full potential until next month.” Schwoz said. Henry raised an eyebrow at the genius. 

“It’ll only take that long?” He asked, Charlotte nodded, sitting down next to her friend. 

“‘Super Puberty’, as you called it, kinda works like how super babies develop. It doesn’t take that long. So we think the worst part of this month will be the first week and a half. It should die down after that.” 

Henry stared at the coca-skinned teen in bewilderment. She broke eye contact after a few seconds and tapped away on her tablet, as Jasper stole another chicken puck. 

“And...how do you guys know this?” Henry asked. Schwoz picked at a hangnail. 

“When Ray was hit with his dad’s Invention, he was only eight. Before he hit puberty, only his outer body was indestructible. He was still able to get poisoned by things he ingested.” The genius explained; the three teens widened their eyes—not even Charlotte had known that. 

“It was not until puberty that his molecular density turned into true indestructibility. That is why he does not need to breath or be careful about poisons today.”

Henry shoved another piece of chicken into his mouth, deep in thought. It was good that this power surge thing would only last about a month…but on the downside, he would have to suffer through whatever the next four weeks would put him through, no matter how difficult. 

“Is there any way we can make the symptoms...less harsh?” He asked, he didn’t think he could handle feeling starving for the next month. He didn’t even want to know the other side effects. 

Schwoz was shaking his head before Henry even finished the sentence. “If there is anything we can do, only Ray would know.” He explained, “We cannot give you medicine or sedatives to stop the side effects—that would never allow you to gain control of your powers. You almost faint every time your superspeed activates, correct?”

Henry nodded, as if he had just been asked a normal, non-life-changing question. 

Schwoz made a hand motion that said ‘you just proved my point’. “If we got you some medicine—if any existed—that would happen every time you tapped into it. You need to build up stamina.”

Henry groaned with a roll of his eyes. “Then let’s call Ray and get him back in here so he can at least take some pressure off my shoulders! I don’t think I can deal with this and fighting crime alone at the same time…”

He was met by exclamations of ‘no!’ from both Schwoz and Jasper. The blonde turned to his friend in surprise. 

“Sorry, Henry, but Ray hasn’t gotten a true vacation in over two years.” Jasper exclaimed, concerned for his role model’s health. “He needs to relax for the two weeks we gave him.”

“Yeah, and in case you do not remember, I was the one who had to drive him up to the airport and make sure he got on the plane!” Schwoz said, “He already refuses to leave Swellview alone as it is, it was a miracle he did not jump out of the plane already!”

Charlotte piped up then, defending Henry. “But it’s situations like this that give Ray anxiety about leaving town in the first place! They’re all completely logical fears, as we can tell,” she emphasized, gesturing to Henry, “and he has the right to know about it, especially if he’s the only one that can help us.” 

Henry nodded in approval, and Schwoz and Jasper grumbled as they realized the girl’s point. 

Charlotte waited until the two stopped complaining, before pulling out her cell. “I’m going to call Ray, alright? Anybody have a problem with that?”

Both Jasper and Schwoz raised their hands. Charlotte sighed. 

“Is anybody going to try and stop me?” She asked, a dangerous undertone edging its way into her voice. 

Both of her opponents begrudgingly lowered their hands. 

Charlotte let out a huff. “Good.” She then brought the phone to her ear, and waited for Ray to pick up. 

...and kept waiting. And waiting. 

She dialed again. And kept waiting. 

...and waited some more. 

And it wasn’t until her fifth unsuccessful call that she finally shut it off in a fit of annoyance. 

“Okay, why isn’t he picking up?”

Jasper blinked. “Oh, because we picked a vacation spot for him that doesn’t have access to any internet or cell service.” He explained in a chipper tone, not having connected the dots. 

The faces both Charlotte and Henry gave the remaining two in the room were almost identical looks of ‘are you fucking serious’.

Charlotte stuttered for a minute, before pinching the bridge of her nose. “And why, would you do that?” She asked, trying to remain calm. 

“Because we did not want to tempt him to look at a news app or call us every five minutes.” Schwoz answered bluntly. “He would overreact and call the entire thing off if there was so much as a mugging in the park.”

Charlotte and Henry continued to fuel their anger, but the former eventually let out a sigh. 

Jasper and Schwoz’s thought process wasn’t supposed to inconvenience them. They couldn’t have predicted this situation any more than Ray could have predicted Henry would be the one he hired three years ago. They were just using their heads to make sure Ray got some well-needed rest. 

“I guess we can’t be mad at you… but that doesn’t mean we can’t be salty.”

Henry and Charlotte shared a look, before turning back to Jasper and Schwoz with identical devious smirks. “Ray’ll be pissed about it though.”

They got some satisfaction at watching the blood drain from both of their faces. 

“M-maybe we could...write a letter to him.” Schwoz squeaked. “It probably will not get to him in time, but at least we can say we tried to tell him.” 

There was a bout of silence as the four in the room thought back and took time to process the conversation that had just happened. It was interrupted by Henry’s stomach growling. 

“...I will get on that letter.” Schwoz said, turning around to look for paper and a pen. 

“And I,” Henry stretched, standing up slowly, “will get on that food.” He said, heading towards the autosnacker. 

Charlotte and Jasper shared a knowing look. 

Henry used humor and denial to deal with his problems. He minimized the situation as a way to stop thinking about them in seriousness, and now that the initial information had come to pass, his tells were taking over his posture like a ghost possessing a body that wasn’t theirs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading, or whatever.
> 
> What did you think of the finale?
> 
> “So I successfully slept through both breakfast and lunch, and my dinner so far has consisted of: a small glass of Hawaiian Punch, six fruit roll-ups, and three packs of all red gushers. I- I feel like the PH of my stomach is negative 5000, but at the same time I feel like if I peed on something, it would dissolve like acid, so. Life’s a give and take. God gives, and he taketh away.” — @shwunky_dunktrunk/TikTok


	6. FireFite me, Bitnch.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Henry is trying to come to terms with his developing powers, and simultaneously becoming a volunteer firefighter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> An update? In MY me? It’s more likely than you think.
> 
> Viva la on with the story.

Henry ended up arriving at home around eight p.m.

His mother scolded him briefly about not letting her know he was working overtime and Piper gushed about her encounter with Kid Danger for a few minutes, shoving her phone in his face so he could watch the footage. 

Henry tried to entertain his sister, he really did, but his lack of energy eventually got the best of him. Pretending to be shocked at a video he had watched no less than a hundred times—one that he was in—was just sending him into a deeper spiral of exhausted crisis. 

It must have been physically evident because his mom asked him if he was feeling well. 

The super powered teen didn’t know what exactly he said, but it was something along the lines of he thought he was coming down with something, and Siren seemed to buy the statement because she told him to go to bed. 

He was thankful she didn’t ask about the fridge being empty. With a sigh and a muttered goodnight, Henry trudged his way upstairs. His hands trailed to his back pockets as he thought. 

Schwoz had given Henry a mixture of some substance that was supposed to curve his cravings and provide him with necessary nutrients—it was a gross powder that you mixed in water and it was tasteless at best, but it worked better at subsiding his hunger than any other food he had tried so he choked it down. 

The teen patted his pocket to double-check the contents. Yup. Five more packets rested there. 

If he was lucky (which we wasn’t most of the time), he wouldn’t wake up in the middle of the night with an angrily hungry stomach...

An odd sense of sleepiness came over him when he entered his room, and the super powered teen didn’t even attempt to turn on the lights. 

Henry stripped and grabbed his pajamas and pulled them onto his body. They were cool and smelled like home and brought a sensation of relief. He ended up wrapping his arms around himself and standing with his eyes closed for a good minute or two. 

Dissociating didn’t last long however and it was cut short by an unexpected yawn, and the teen buried himself under the sheets and squeezed a pillow tight against his chest. 

His bed hugged him like it always had. Henry was worried that his anxieties would keep him up—it was in the back of his mind and it was numbed by exhaustion but it was still a possibility because it had happened quite a few times before. Especially after particularly serious missions that risked lives and limbs. 

But to his relief, sleep graced him within minutes of pulling the covers up over himself. 

Of course he wasn’t lucky enough to sleep until morning. 

His watch was blaring and Henry slapped it so fast that it faltered for a minute due to the force. 

Charlotte appeared in-hologram, flickering a few times before solidifying. Henry, in his sleep-deprived state, had to think for a minute as to why Ray wasn’t there.

She looked uncharacteristically guilty—she nervously wrung her hands together and bit her lip and it was obvious that waking the blond was the last thing she wanted to do…

“What’s happening?” Henry slurred, sitting up and rubbing his eyes. 

He had been woken up more times than he could count to assist Ray in middle-of-the-night crimes and this was nothing new—he usually woke up very easily because of the unpredictable schedule of his job. 

But his stomach hurt and his head spun and he wanted nothing more than to fall back asleep but he had a responsibility and he wasn’t going to let Ray down.

He’s supposed to be his successor. Getting an upgrade in superpowers would help him do that and he really shouldn’t be so upset about this and—

“Henry, god, you aren’t gonna be able to do this, are you?” Charlotte’s voice cut through, ringing with concern.

Henry jumped, and his eyes snapped back to her. Had she been talking?

“N-no, sorry—I’m sorry, Charlotte I’m totally fine I just need to get some food in me...what’s the situation?”

Charlotte glanced him up and down, and Henry was sure his bed head wasn’t helping his appearance, but she sighed shortly after and ran a hand over her own face. 

“As much as I would love to let you sleep, there’s been a building fire and the police have asked for backup because there’s still people stuck.”

Henry snapped to his feet in a bout of adrenaline. “Why are you just now calling me, Charlotte?!” He almost yelled, before realizing that it was...2:45 a.m.

“Don’t get pissy with me—you needed to rest and the SPD said they had it handled with the fire department. They only called the hotline a few minutes ago.” Charlotte snapped back. 

The blond groaned under his breath and knocked his gumball tube out from under his photo frame. 

“Okay, fine, I’ll be there as soon as I can.” He grumbled, and slapped his wrist to end the call. 

He then bent down and fumbled through his jeans and pulled out a packet of the powder-meal. His stomach was starting to growl now that he was fully awake, and he knew he was going to regret it if he didn’t get something into his stomach soon. 

Henry snuck downstairs, grabbed a water bottle, added the mixture, and popped a gumball as he headed out the front door. 

The sidekick’s feet hit the pavement as his suit covered his body. The familiar rush of adrenaline hit him as it happened, and he felt just slightly better as his mind snapped into hero mode.

His focus was on the task ahead, and nothing else mattered in that moment. 

Henry double-checked the address that Charlotte had texted him, and started off at a run towards the scene. 

Kid Danger arrived much, much sooner than he should have, but the teen didn’t give himself time to process that, as the store in front of him was absolutely ablaze. The yelling of emergency responders told him that the fire had spread to the apartment building next door. 

The Sidekick quickly chugged what was left in the water bottle, and sprinted into action. 

Henry was hit with an absolutely devastating blast of heat, and it knocked the breath out of him. He had only dealt with fires once or twice in his years as Ray’s sidekick, and never had he gone very far inside the building set ablaze.

This was new and slightly uncomfortable territory for him.

But he didn’t have a choice in the matter. 

Firefighters were scrambling and escorting people and flames flickered at his heels. Kid Danger just barely heard one of the firefighters yell that there was a family stuck on the second floor over the roar of the flames. 

He nodded in exchange for words—he didn’t want to breath in any more smoke than he had to—and made his way to the stairs. 

They looked unstable and hot, but Kid Danger was on a timer so he took them two at a time, skidding in a bit of ash when he reached the second floor. 

His eyes were watering, but he managed to squint through the tears to see a group of firefighters kicking debris to the side. There was decidedly not-muffled screaming, and then one of the men leaned in and pulled out what looked to be a child. 

Kid Danger hastily picked his way over. One of the firefighters noticed him as their partner rushed the child down the hall. 

“We’ve still got a dad and his daughter trapped in the bathroom. We can’t reach them—can Captain Man get back there?”

“Captain Man isn’t in town right now, but I’m small enough to reach back there.” Kid Danger called over the flames. 

The super powered teen could feel the firefighter’s skeptic look from behind his mask. 

“Are you sure, Kid Danger? You could get burned.”

Henry was nodding before the man even finished the sentence. “My suit is just as fireproof as yours, man, I got this.”

The first responder looked reluctant, and hesitated for a few seconds, but ultimately realized that they didn’t have much time to argue. 

“The bathroom’s through the living room on the hallway to your right—first door. Make sure you hurry, this place could come down any minute.”

As if to emphasize the point, an exposed beam from the roof snapped and came crashing down, sending embers and ash scattering. 

Kid Danger brought his arm up and covered his mouth with the crook of his elbow. 

“Hurry! We’ll keep watch on the structure and warn you if anything happens.”

The sidekick nodded, ducked under the slightly collapsed doorframe, and entered the apartment. 

Fire was flickering from every angle. Smoke made it impossible to see more than five feet in front of him. It was like a laser beam matrix. 

Luckily, Henry had experience with that. 

He coughed and called out, ears straining as he did so—which only resulted in more coughing again.

He heard a response. He reached a gloved hand out and scaled the wall until it dipped under his palm and he grabbed what was obviously a corner. 

It dipped right, and he followed it. 

He could hear the calls for help a bit clearer now, and he picked up the pace until he could see the bathroom through the smoke. 

Kid Danger only just wondered why he had to come in to retrieve them, but almost falling into the gaping fiery hole that separated him and the small family immediately answered that question for him. 

The dad had turned on the shower, and he and his daughter were cowering under the stream of water; wet wash cloths were pressed against their mouths. Henry wasn’t sure if it was a particularly smart idea, but it had obviously kept them from burning and suffocating so far. 

“Are you okay?” He yelled, and then immediately dissolved into a coughing fit. The father answered back, parental terror evident in his voice despite his best efforts To keep calm for his daughter. 

“We can’t get out!”

Kid Danger accessed the hole. It was at least seven feet wide, and the cloud of smoke rising from it indicated fire directly below. 

He was thinking more on instinct than rationality. Jumping across wasn't the best option, but they were short on time.

“Okay, Sir, I’m going to ask you to throw your daughter over to me!”

“What!?”

“We don’t really have time to discuss this! I promise I’ll catch her, and I’m sure without her weight you’ll be able to jump across here no problem.”

Henry actually wasn’t sure, but the man had a better chance if he wasn‘t holding the four year old.

There was stuttering, and the man gripped his daughter a bit tighter. A few seconds was all it took to come to a decision. 

“Okay, just—please, get her to safety!”

The implied message was one Henry was not going to need to act on. He was determined on that. Both of the people in that shower were going to make it out of there, even if it cost him his own life.

The father said something to his daughter that Kid Danger couldn’t quite hear over the crackling, but she nodded, and clutched the wash cloth to her face even tighter. 

The man wasted no time after that, and stepped out of the shower. The floor boards creaked under his weight, and he tried to widen his stance. 

“Okay, I’m gonna throw her over now!”

Henry braced himself to lunge if need-be. “I’m ready!”

The man obviously put all of his strength into the toss, and thankfully, Henry caught the girl without any struggle. 

The sidekick briefly greeted her, and instructed her to stay further out in the hallway before he turned and told the dad to jump. 

The man was a bit short—Henry had to grab ahold of his hand to right him so he didn’t fall backwards, but the moment they had gained their balance back, they bolted towards the entrance to the apartment. 

And unfortunately, Lady Luck decided that that’s when the building would start to collapse. 

Kid Danger had pushed the two ahead towards the stairs so that they would get out first, so he was the one who saw the roof collapse.

And in what felt like a millisecond, Henry went through a series of crucial thoughts.

One: they weren’t going to beat gravity to the door. 

Two: he had made a promise that he was determined to keep. 

And three: he had superspeed. Well, was developing it. Whatever. 

But he had done it before. 

So he reached into the place in his chest where his power rested, and searched until something clicked. 

And time slowed down again—no, he sped up. He froze for what seemed like a few seconds to him, but was probably a fraction of a millisecond to everyone else. 

He only spent time for a slight glance at his surroundings, before he grabbed the small family by their arms and bolted towards the entrance before he lost control of his power. 

Kid Danger didn’t remember the astounded faces of the bystanders as he appeared seemingly out of nowhere with the battered survivors, nor would he recall the shocked and relieved faces of the father and daughter as their surroundings suddenly changed from fiery hell to cool night. 

Because the moment the three broke through the fire barrier and got within safe distance of the burning building, the super powered teen collapsed in a dead faint.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anybody watch Danger Force? I’ve only been able to see one episode but it was absolutely chaotic and I loved it.
> 
> “When I get to hell, you want to know what I’m gonna do? I’m gonna beat the fuck out of Hellen Keller, you wanna know why? Because what the fuck is she gonna do?” —@elijahgoodhart/TikTok


	7. The Best Part of Waking up is an IV in your Arm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Henry wakes up the next morning, and has to deal with the fact that he overworked himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yooo guys, I’m so sorry about keeping y’all waiting for an update. This whole COVID-19 and Police Brutality situation is really causing my anxiety to go through the roof, especially since I’m in a position where I can’t do much besides sign petitions.
> 
> So while I can’t donate or protest, I do hope that this chapter brings some light into these dark times.
> 
> Viva La on with the story!

The next morning came with an IV stuck in Henry’s arm and a throbbing head.

The sidekick didn’t particularly remember waking up after the fire, all that stuck with him was a blur of colors and events that eventually lead him to getting back to the Mancave to be bombarded by a worried Charlotte.

She and Schwoz must have moved him to the guest room after that.

The blonde groaned, and a wave of hunger-induced nausea hit.

He needed food, like, _yesteryear_.

The teenager slowly sat up, and swung his legs over the side of the bed. He was wearing his pajama pants, which suggested he had blown a bubble sometime since the fire, but again, he couldn’t recall.

Not wanting to bother with wheeling the IV around with him, but also knowing that he wouldn’t have it if he didn’t need it, Henry unhooked the bag from the carrier. He held it by his teeth in a slight attempt to keep it elevated.

It took him slightly longer to get to the main section of the Man Cave than it usually did, but he really didn’t pay the time any mind. He ordered the first thing he could think of to eat (ten servings of it, he might add, because he knew he’d need way more than usual), and then immediately collapsed onto the couch.

Jasper entered when Henry was on his third serving, and the other blonde did a double take when he realized that the sidekick was awake.

“What are you doing up?” He asked, distress seeping through the air as he noticed the IV bag hanging from the backrest of the couch.

The sixteen year old immediately hurried to find something to properly hang the bag up on as Henry continued to eat.

“Bro, I’m... Are you sure I’m not like actually dying?” Henry questioned. Jasper grabbed a clip and attached the IV to what looked like a coat rack, but the sidekick wasn’t sure.

Jasper scoffed, and gave Henry a quick hug from behind. “We’re sure. You were just severely exhausted and had nothing in your system besides that gross powdery stuff when we picked you up. You’ll be better after some nutrition, which…” The blonde stared at the meal that Henry had ordered, which happened to be a plate of spaghetti. “That’s not going to cut for. Do you want one of those packets that Schwoz made, or do you want actual food?”

“Oh, God, please, real food. I’ve only had like three of those packets and I already hate them.”

Jasper let out an empathetic laugh. “Okay, well what if I added some flavor or something to it? Or like, mixed it with a milkshake, would you eat it then?”

Henry tilted his head as he thought. “Now you might have something going there, Jasp. Sure, why not. If it’ll keep me full for a few hours.”

Jasper snapped his fingers and sent a pair of finger guns towards the sidekick in acknowledgement. Henry only hummed as he continued to eat, and instead grabbed the remote to turn on the TV.

Jasper sat down a few minutes later with a plate of salmon and salad, and handed the blonde a large milkshake that might have been cookies and cream, but it was most likely just pieces of undissolved powder. In hindsight, it probably wasn’t the best combination of flavors, but Henry really didn’t care. He ended up scarfing them down before the next episode of Dog Judge even started.

The door to the back room swung open a few minutes later, and Charlotte stepped out with her phone in her hand.

Henry greeted her with a tone was was way too enthusiastic considering that he was literally hooked up to an IV. Charlotte visibly mirrored the opinion by her eyebrows shooting to her hairline as she blinked rapidly in surprise.

“Don’t you dare say that I should be resting, I’m doing exactly that by sitting on the couch and watching TV.” The sidekick said before the girl could even open her mouth.

Charlotte’s mouth quickly shut as she passed it for a gulp of air, and her lips pursed.

“I’m just trying to make your life easier, but go off I guess.” She eventually shrugged, and went back to typing on her phone.

Jasper groaned. “Oh, great, you’ve activated Passive-Aggressive Charlotte. Great job, Henry.”

The other blonde sent a shit-eating grin. “Hey, don’t get mad at me,” he whined, gesturing to the IV in his arm, “I’m Babie with an I-E.”

“No, you’re Puberty Boy, you freak of nature.” Came Charlotte’s voice from across the room, which was quickly followed by, “Jasper, is this from last night or this morning?”

The teen in question turned to see the coca skinned girl holding up the empty package of substance powder. “That’s from this morning. He already drank all of it.” He answered.

Henry rolled his eyes, and cranked up the volume on the TV. “Damn. Y’all be treating me like I’m four years old.”

Charlotte whacked the sidekick over the side of the head with her hand as she strolled behind the couch. “Maybe if you stopped making logical decisions that only a four year old would deem proper, then we would stop treating you like one.”

Henry slapped his non-IV’d arm against his chest in mock-hurt. “Damn. Right in the heart. Passive-Aggressive Charlotte is in full power mode.”

Jasper started singing You Give Love a Bad Name softly after Henry made the statement, somehow deciding the phrase was associated with the song. The super powered teen joined in after a few verses, and Charlotte tried her best not to hit them again as the two boys sang terribly.

The girl eventually slipped into the couch on Henry’s left, and the blonde immediately cooed overdramatically and draped his arms around Charlotte in a loopy hug.

“I’m sorry Charlotte, I know you’re just trying to keep me alive.” He swooned, turning the ‘r’s in the sentence to ‘w’s.

Charlotte smirked, and patted Henry’s head sarcastically. “It’s okay, Babie, I know you’re sorry.”

Henry laughed, before wincing as he bent his arm too far and caused the IV to stab him a bit. The sidekick cursed under his breath, and carefully unwrapped himself from around Charlotte.

He frowned as he stared at the crook of his arm, and Jasper took his wrist gently.

“Yeah, sorry, we thought you’d be out a lot longer than you were, so I just inserted it there. I would have done it lower but I’m still learning how to find the veins down near wrists.”

Henry hummed in acknowledgement. “It’s fine, man. You did your best. How much longer do I need this in for?”

Jasper’s eyebrows raised slightly and he tilted his head to the side as he pondered. “Gimme a minute, and I can tell you.” He said, before lifting himself to his feet and strolling into the backroom.

The blonde came back out a few minutes later with a device, and started scanning Henry with it. While he did so, the sidekick turned to Charlotte again.

“Hey, do you know where my phone is? I should probably text my dad or someone to let him know I’m okay.”

“Yeah, we plugged it in last night, I think it’s in Ray’s room since he was the only one with an extra outlet since me and Jasper took up the one out here.”

The superpowered teen blinked. “You guys stayed the night?”

Charlotte looked at him quizzically. “You really think we’d leave you alone with Schwoz? He’d make you go insane, especially with all them drugs in your system.” She joked, nodding towards the bag that Jasper was messing with again.

Henry hummed in agreement. “Fair enough...where is Schwoz, anyways?”

“I think he’s trying to reach someone to contact Ray faster than that letter we sent? I don’t know.” she admitted, “We mailed it out yesterday, but he’s trying to find someone trusted with an E-mail or phone over there that can relay the message…”

“Yeah, I guess.” Henry looked down at the table for a second, brow furrowing. He didn’t want to be reminded about how long Ray would be gone, but the stress of his situation made it hard not to. Especially since he had actually passed out on the job last night…

He didn’t want to necessarily say that his boss protected him during battle, but there was safety in numbers. Even someone with an inflated ego like Ray’s knew that. Henry knew how lucky he was to be fighting fire instead of a villain last night. There’s no telling what would have happened if he had been facing Minyac, or worse.

Henry was snapped back by Jasper. “I’d keep the IV in for another hour or so, Hen. Your vitals are normalish, but better safe than sorry.”

“Wait but my phone.” Henry complained, knowing that Charlotte would not let him walk around with the makeshift IV stand.

“I’ll go get it, you drama queen.” Jasper laughed. “Just give me a minute.”

The blonde took the device and walked back into the backroom, and Henry turned his attention back to the TV.

Charlotte had switched it to Investigation Discovery, which she may or may not have gotten Piper hooked on back at home.

Henry watched in mild fascination for a few minutes, listening to Jasper mess around in the background, before turning to Charlotte. “There been anything that Kid Danger couldn’t do today?”

The girl bit at a hangnail, gaze not leaving the TV. “I mean, the better question is when isn’t there something you and Ray have to do, but yeah. Luckily, the police were aware that you obviously needed rest, so they stepped up their game for at least a few hours.”

A faint laugh filled the room as Henry let out a fast breath through his nose. “That’s surprising.”

Charlotte agreed, and her eyes trailed to Jasper as he came up beside Henry’s left shoulder and handed him his phone.

The sidekick thanked his friend briefly as he took the device, and immediately pulled up the messages.

The app pulled up the conversation between him and his Dad. Some text that was obviously sent by Jasper spouting some bullshit about an early-morning shift and a quick two-word response from Jake. The other eleven were from Piper—not unexpected, but the subject was what got him.

She had rambled about the fire and Kid Danger fainting for like three messages, which Henry was more annoyed than surprised about, but then there was a news article link she sent. It was just full of non-super researched bullshit explanations as to what was happening to him.

The teen rolled his eyes, and quickly sent back a quick text that would pass as a suitable answer to the topic.

The TV droned on about the details of some murder scene for a few moments, before Henry sighed.

"Do you think Kid Danger needs to make a PSA about this situation?" He ventured, leaning his head back so that it rested against the back of the couch and he was staring at the ceiling. "I mean, people are just gonna keep on making up really stupid explanations…"

Charlotte turned to look at Henry quizzically. "Do you want to make one?" She asked.

The blonde shrugged as Jasper plopped down next to him again. "I dunno...I hate all of these rumours being said about me."

"Rumours? Henry—you're a goddamn celebrity, you should be used to this by now." Jasper semi-chastized, his attention pulled back to the TV at some flashing police lights.

Henry groaned, and rolled his neck along the back of the couch so that he was facing Jasper.

"I know," he complained, "it's just that I really hate secrets…"

"Yeah I know, but I personally wouldn't want the entire world to know that I'm going through puberty again." Jasper said in a small attempt at humor.

Henry only groaned at the reminder, and slapped his hands onto his face (mindful of the IV), covering his eyes and letting out a low-pitched noise from the back of his throat.

Jasper let out a sympathetic sigh himself, and he caught Charlotte's gaze briefly in a wordless exchange that Henry didn't see.

"Maybe just tweet something vague on Twitter? Let people know that you're fine and we have the situation handled but not let any details get out?" He suggested. Charlotte hummed in agreement, finding Jasper's solution to be satisfactory.

Henry dropped a hand so that he could peer at the other blonde. "Yeah, that sounds good…"

He trailed off and reached down to his side to feel around for his phone. He grabbed it after a few seconds, and brought it back up to his eyesight.

A small bout of silence filled the room as the sidekick typed around on his phone a bit, and Jasper focused back onto the TV with Charlotte as the show continued to play.

Henry's Twitter was bombarded with comments and tweets and he had gotten a couple thousand more followers within the past hour. The blonde got sidetracked with the amount of attention his account was getting.

A quick tweet was made, and it said something along the lines of 'thanks for the concern everyone, we've got the situation under control, we'll give a better explanation later on'.

He turned his phone off immediately after— Jasper's phone buzzed because he had Kid Danger's post notifications on— and stretched.

"I need a shower." Henry stated, but made no movement to get up.

"Yeah, you still smell like smoke and sweat." Charlotte admitted, crinkling her nose a bit as she said so.

Henry sent her a horrified look, and lifted his arm slightly to get a whiff the damage.

"Damn, you're right." The sidekick laughed, before turning to Jasper. "Can I even shower with this IV in?"

Jasper glanced down at his friends arm briefly. "I mean yeah, but you'd have to cover it with some plastic wrap...it's probably be easier to just remove it because you'd have to work around your clothes."

"True...but now that I've had that thought physically said to me I'm gonna fucking die if I don't take one immediately, so can I go ahead and take it out?"

Jasper sat up and grabbed a water he had set on the table earlier; apprehensiveness was obvious in his posture. "I mean, I guess yeah you can, but I would—“

The blonde didn't get to finish the sentence, because as soon as Henry had heard the word 'yeah', he had grabbed the tube attached to him and yanked it out.

The sidekick promptly yelled in pain, and a stream of blood flew through the air and pelted Charlotte's shirt.

The girl immediately squealed in disgust, and jumped to her feet.

"Henry, what the fuck?" She exclaimed, as Jasper jumped to his feet and grabbed some gauze and bandages as fast as possible.

"Christ, I'm so fucking sorry." Henry said through a bout of laughter and pain tears, "I got too excited."

"Yeah, no shit, Sherlock!" Jasper exclaimed, grabbing Henry's arm and quickly binding the opening in his skin. "If you had let me finish I was going to say that I'd need to put pressure on the area before I took it out, and that you'd need to take it super easy, but you were an idiot instead."

"You must have the braincell, then." Henry snorted as Jasper let his arm go. He attempted to bend it experimentally, but couldn't get it very far because of how tight it was binded. "Speaking of, how is it that you only have the braincell when it comes to medical stuff? I'm pretty sure you absolutely bombed our last history test."

"Absolutely no clue." The blonde stated as Charlotte immediately ripped off her shirt and chucked it across the room in disgust. "Charlotte hates any bodily fluid as she just flawlessly demonstrated, and Schwoz's medical history is questionable, and it comes to me really easily, so…"

"Not gonna question it, then."

"Fair enough."

Charlotte stomped by angrily in her sports bra, and up through the doorway leading to Ray's room.

"I'm borrowing one of Ray's shirts, you idiots better start washing mine before I get back. I am not going to have one of my only good white shirts ruined by your stupidity." She grumbled.

Henry leaned against the back of the couch. "I love you, Charlotte!" He yelled.

He only got a middle finger in return.

Jasper picked up Charlotte's shirt from its place on the floor, and quickly threw at Henry, who caught it with ease.

"Can you throw that in the laundry room on the way to the shower?"

Henry groaned loudly and over dramatically, and flopped off of the couch like he had suddenly turned into a puddle of liquid.

He awkwardly ducked out from under the table and stood up, turning and following in Charlotte's footsteps.

"Yeah I can do it, but it'll cost you $5.00 per minute."

"Okay, Boomer."

Henry gasped overdramatically, and rested a hand over his chest as he feigned pain. "How dare. Rude. Offensive."

Jasper cracked a smile. "You know what else is offensive? Your stench."

Henry immediately turned back around and hurried to the bathroom. "You're right, but I'm not gonna let you say it to my face!" He yelled over his shoulder, and a door was slammed in the distance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading, sorry if this chapter is a little...bland. I thought some normal teen interaction might be needed.
> 
> “No Justice, No Peace.” —Black Lives Matter Movement, 2020
> 
> Thanks for reading, my lovelies. Stay strong. 
> 
> \- LocalDragonHaunt


	8. Arson and Homework and Knifes, Oh My!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Henry has to juggle with the revelation of a crime wave, homework, and a douche with a knife all at once.
> 
> TRIGGER WARNING!: mentions of domestic abuse.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ey Yo!!! I’m back with a hyperfixation-induced update ;)
> 
> Ngl I...have no excuse for not updating, I’ve literally had this chapter written since like February. Sorry, everyone.
> 
> Let’s ignore that, though! Viva La On with the Story!

Henry didn't use the shower in the Mancave very often, but when he did, he always ended up getting a headache on deciding which soap and conditioners to use. Ray had an ungodly amount in his shower alone, and the sidekick didn't even want to begin to count the amount of skincare products his boss had in the cabinets.

Henry would normally just grab the first bottle he could lay his hands on, but his boss had a bunch of exotic smelling ones that the teen didn't particularly care for.

But the shower was refreshing, and by the time the sidekick stepped out the dull ache in his arm left in wake of the IV's absence had disappeared.

He peeled the bandage back, and found that the wound had already healed itself like his shoulder had a couple days prior.

That was the one side effect that he liked the most, and a small smile perked at his lips before he moved on.

He grabbed the pair of sweats he kept down at the Mancave and threw them on because his pajamas had a bit of his blood on them, and he was gonna throw them in the wash after Charlotte's shirt was done.

Henry waded up the towel and pajamas, and walked out of the bathroom, shivering as the cool air hit him. He tossed the ball of cloth onto the floor of the laundry room, and hurried back to the main section of the Mancave, where Charlotte, Jasper, and Schwoz were glued to the TV.

The news was on, and the anchors were giving a story about the fire from last night.

Except instead of calling it an accident, they were saying that it was arson.

Henry was too shocked to say anything, and stopped dead in his tracks on the stairs. His eyes widened as his full attention was glued to the TV.

It had moved to a police officer. Henry could vaguely place him at a few previous crime scenes that he had been to.

He was talking about the presence of turpentine in the building where the fire was started.

_An accelerant._

The three on the couch must not have noticed him, because Schwoz only spoke to Charlotte and Jasper when he added on.

"That would back up my data…" he trailed off in the tone the man used when something grave was evident.

"God this town has the worst timing." Jasper complained, running a hand through his hair, "Are you sure that it's a crime wave?"

Shwoz rung his hands together nervously, eyes darting to the side. "I could double check the numbers, but crime has gone up since Henry announced that Captain Man was out of town…I would not be surprised considering many underestimate Kid Danger."

"Are you guys serious?" Henry blurted out, causing the three to jump and whirl around as he made his presence known. "Is Swellview actually having a crime wave?"

Charlotte sighed incredulously, surprise from Henry's sudden appearance disappearing. She looked down at the couch cushions for a moment before answering. "I hate to admit it, but yeah, I think Schwoz is right. We have been getting way more calls than usual."

Henry took a deep composing breath, running his hands through his damp hair. "Great. Just great. Just what I need."

"And we've still got homework to do…" Jasper added, which did not help Henry's mood whatsoever.

"You're a great help, Jasper." The superpowered teen replied sarcastically.

Jasper's eyelids narrowed aggressively in response. "Would you rather I let you forget?"

Henry sighed and walked over to the couch, hopping up onto the backrest. "I guess not…" he admitted, before cursing under his breath. "And I would absolutely get it done now, but my backpack's at home."

He stared at the ground for a second or two, anxieties twisting in his gut. He then took a deep breath and shook his head deliberately. Being pessimistic wasn’t going to help him. He could do this. He’d done much worse, right? “Whatever.” He said, “It’ll be fine. Let’s go get it done while we can, eh?”

Sensing the quick change in mood that was definitely-not-denial induced, Charlotte asked, "Can we wait until after my shirt's done washing? I don't want to have to explain why I'm wearing this monstrosity to your parents."

She gestured to one of the wildly colored Hawaiian shirts that took up 70% of Ray's closet.

"Yeah, I have no idea how Ray manages to make those look presentable." Henry agreed, before immediately turning to Schwoz. "Don't tell him I said that, I don't want to have my pay docked for a week."

A small smile perked at Schwoz's lips, and he held up his hands in a non threatening stature. "My lips are sealed."

"I've never been more thankful that Junk n' Stuff doesn't have a uniform." Jasper stated, staring up at the ceiling, "I don't think I could handle the fashion choices that Ray would make for that."

Henry rolled his eyes. "This coming from the guy who religiously curled his hair for the first fourteen years of his life."

"We do not talk about that!" Jasper interrupted, voice raising in volume in nervous shame.

The sidekick sniggered, but his heart wasn't entirely in on it. The silence that followed only led him to dwell on the new fact.

There was a crime wave happening. Ray was out of town, and Henry got fatigued super easily if his powers got the best of him. And he had school.

The teen shook his head to snap out of it as the dryer let out a beeping from down the hall.

A study that he could vaguely remember reading over Charlotte’s shoulder was playing in his brain. Something about how something as simple as smiling can improve someone’s mood. So being optimistic should make this next month easier, right? He just needed to be meticulous about his time management. (Which he wasn't the best at, admittedly, but it wasn't that hard to try, right?)

He could do this.

Charlotte immediately jumped up at the noise, and hurried down the hall, appearing minutes later in the shirt she had arrived in, no stains in sight.

"God, Schwoz, I have no idea what detergent that is, but it's a godsend." She stated, arms wrapped around herself as she relished in the warmth from the dryer.

The man straightened slightly. "I am glad you like it, it's my secret recipe."

The girl had a slight smile grace her lips as she picked up her phone from the table.

"Okay you two," she stated, catching the other two teens' attention. "Let's get going. I have no clue how long it'll take until another call comes to the hotline, but if we can get some homework done it'll help a lot."

Henry hopped off the backrest of the couch, and Jasper stood up himself, stretching slightly. "Fair enough."

"Schwoz, you'll contact us when a call comes in, right?" Henry asked, walking backwards to face him as Jasper pressed the elevator button.

"Of course." The man confirmed, "now go get your homeworks done."

The doors slid open, and the sidekick sent a thumbs up towards him, a small click of the tongue being the only sound he emitted.

The doors closed, and they started their ascent, and Henry found for the first time that he couldn't wait to get started on homework.

He decided to project it onto the idea that he was dedicated to school, and not that he was worried that he wouldn't even finish it.

* * *

The trio had completed two assignments by the time Schwoz contacted them.

A sigh passed Henry’s lips as he held back a groan, and stood up from the couch, stepping out onto his porch.

The teen pressed the answer button, and Schwoz flickered into appearance in front of him.

“Hey, Schwoz, what’s up?”

_“Someone called to report an assault in the park. The person has a knife.”_

Henry was already pulling out his gum, and popped one in his mouth. He moved it to the side before he answered. “That’s wonderful. Okay, I’m on my way.”

Schwoz said some parting words before hanging up, and Henry slapped his watch at the end of the communication. He poked his head back in the room, gazing around to make sure Piper wasn’t nearby.

“Some emergency in the park.” He explained, fingers thrumming on the door as he chewed on the gumball, “You guys continue without me, I should be back in an hour.”

Jasper came hurrying towards him with a water bottle, and handed it to the other blonde. “Take this, it’ll help you on your journey.” He said in an emphasized NPC voice.

The sidekick pressed his lips together in some weird mixture of amusement and disgust as he tilted the bottle from side to side. The particles from Schwoz’s Don’t-Die-Smoothie, as he had dubbed it, swung from side to side as they continued to dissolve.

“Yeah, thanks.” He half-heartedly said, and a small smile graced his lips.

Jasper sent one more look towards Henry as he turned to head back to the couch. It was one that the sidekick was used to getting before he went out on missions. It said “be careful, please”.

Henry closed the front door, and hit the pavement like he had done less than twelve hours ago.

He didn’t blow a bubble until he got near the park. In hindsight he should have waited to get a gumball until much later, but it was a force of habit when his watch beeped. Ray always picked him up someplace on the way so he never had to worry about waiting long or walking all the way to the crime.

But besides the point.

Kid Danger followed the noise until he saw the lights—a single police car pulled over onto the grass near the playground flashing vibrantly. There was loud, aggressive conversation coming from a while down the trail, and Henry crouched down slightly as he headed towards it.

He'd rather assess the situation before he let his presence known. Sometimes the element of surprise was your biggest weapon.

The cop was who Kid Danger spotted first. He was holding his taser in a defiant position to Henry’s two o’clock, shaking posture making it more than obvious that he had little experience with fighting criminals.

Why would he? Swellview has two personal superheroes, after all.

Kid Danger rolled his eyes in mirth at the thought. Karma was a bitch, and the SPD deserved it, but he could acknowledge that later.

“Sir, if you would just let the woman go, I’m sure we can talk this out.” The police officer stated, voice cracking slightly.

The superpowered teen stalled briefly to find the criminal. The man had a captive—a beaten girl that was cowering at the tip of a knife that was held with sloppy stature. He retorted to the police officer with anger, and as he did so the knife always dropped slightly as he bantered.

Despite himself, a small smirk passed Kid Danger’s lips. This would be a piece of cake. Mostly. Sneak up from behind the dude, shoot the knife out of his hand with his laser, and tackle him to the ground.

The police officer continued trying to talk the man down, and Henry fumbled around on his belt for a bit as he stalked behind the brush to get into position. He crouched low and double-checked the setting on the laser. He didn’t know the exact intensity he needed, but he wanted it to be enough to make the criminal drop the blade without completely knocking him out.

Villain or not, he didn’t deserve to fall on his own knife.

Kid Danger set it slightly below the middle-intensity setting and slowly emerged, making sure to catch the police officer’s eye as he did so. Relief flashed in the police officer’s eyes, and a wordless exchange was sent between the two. Their eye contact was broken before the criminal could catch on. The sidekick was thankful that this officer seemed to have at least somewhat of a brain; it made what he was about to do a lot easier.

The police officer didn’t know exactly what Kid Danger was about to do, but the slightest twitch of the lip was all he gave before he spoke to the man again if to do nothing but distract him.

“Put the knife down, Sir, otherwise I’ll be forced to taze you.”

The man laughed incredulously, a crazy, deeply psychotic laugh that suggested he wanted to hurt the woman as much as he was hurting, and Henry stalled to wait for his concentration to fall from the knife.

“Taze me? If you were going to you would have done it already.”

The police officer pressed his lips together, and another millisecond glance was sent to the sidekick as he aimed.

The woman’s head was partially blocking the knife, and Henry was not going to risk hitting her…

Against his better judgement, his spare hand came up, and he waved it as frantically as he dared, trying to get her attention. Her head was turned slightly to her right, and he was able to catch her eye.

But her reaction was just a bit too noticeable.

Her eyes widened, and her breath caught, and the man noticed this and whipped around.

He took one look at Kid Danger, cursed, and booked it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah uh...I just blanked on what I wanted to say.
> 
> Other than that this chapter and the next one were originally one, but I thought it’d be easier to split them up.
> 
> I say that as if my chapters aren’t super short as it is, lmao.
> 
> “I’ve accepted that I’ll never find love. Anyway, I got roller skates today! I’m gonna call my therapist lat-” @chrissychlapecka/tiktok.com
> 
> Anyways, thanks for reading, my lovelies! I’ll see you in the next chapter ;)
> 
> ~local dragon haunt


	9. The Park is a Good Place to be Stabbed, Right?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Henry goes on a definitely-not-dangerous stroll through the park :)))
> 
> TW: mentions of domestic abuse and blood, but I'm sure you guys were expecting the latter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm writing this before I edit this chapter. I'll let y'all know how many edits I make in the endnotes because I feel as though I need to add something interesting in these notes.
> 
> Viva La On with the story!

Henry fired two shots and one of them landed, but because it wasn't on full effect the man only jerked slightly before resuming his gait.

A slightly louder curse escaped Kid Danger's lips and he immediately took off after him, just barely witnessing the cop lunge towards the woman as she fell backwards onto the ground, hysteria bubbling to the surface.

The guy was fast, Henry would give him that. The sidekick would have gotten him if the brush hadn't cleared out to an open area in the park. Kid Danger was more skilled than the average person at traversing difficult terrains at a high speed, but once that open space was out in front of them, the man was off.

That being said, Henry still had his crazy-superpower-overload-thing going, and he was gaining ground way faster than he ever could before.

He ended up tackling the guy to the ground—not ideal since he was still holding the knife, but he was obviously dangerous and Henry knew that he couldn't trust the police to get him off of the streets, or even to protect that woman whom he was beginning to assume was this sicko's girlfriend.

Unfortunately, the momentum sent them rolling, and he tried his best to keep his grip on the collar of the guy's shirt as they fell. The ground evened out and they eventually stopped rolling. Kid Danger thankfully ended up on top, but the knife jackass was very determined to get free because he twisted and punched Kid Danger in the gut.

Henry grunted and pushed down on the man's upper body to try and maintain his balance. He somehow managed to get one wrist pinned behind his back.

Unfortunately, it wasn't the one with the knife, and what's-his-face was swinging his other arm wildly in an attempt to hit Kid Danger. The momentum was causing Henry to lose his balance, so in a desperate attempt to keep it and the criminal in his grasp, he swung his left leg forward and hooked it around the guy's forearm, pulling it back so it was pinned against his side.

There were a few spectators, mostly some parents out with their kids at the park, so Kid Danger turned to the first one he found that didn't seem to have a child to watch.

"Will you go and get the police officer?" He yelled, fumbling around on his belt for the set of handcuffs he had. The citizen seemed to do a double take, before pointing at himself as if to confirm that the sidekick was talking to him.

"Yes, you!" Kid Danger yelped, as the man below him had jerked suddenly, "he's over there!" He explained, hand flailing behind him in the general direction he had come from. He had finally grabbed the handcuffs from his belt, so he couldn't point, but the guy took off at a sprint anyway.

Henry wasted no time in getting the cuffs on the wrist he had pinned with his hand. The criminal was still trying to swing wildly with the knife in his other hand, and Henry wanted to have the comfort that he had gotten one cuff on.

Then again, that meant that he'd have to wrestle that knife out with one hand, and he hoped beyond hope that his powers would kick in well enough to do that.

Which they had, as Kid Danger's hand wasn't grazed by the blade at all.

Except that he was so focused on getting the cuffs on while keeping his hands intact, that he hadn't noticed that knife-jackass had stabbed him a couple times in the calf.

He literally hadn't noticed until two cops came up to him and immediately exclaimed at the sight of the blood leaking through Kid Danger's pant leg.

Henry did a double-take as the officers hustled to help him, and he rolled off the criminal somewhat awkwardly as they grabbed him by his arms. The sidekick almost went to stand up on instinct, but he snapped out of it quickly and instead went to grab his pant leg to access the injury.

It didn't hurt to roll the material up, and Henry wasn't sure if the presence of that amount of adrenaline was a good or bad thing. He'd never been stabbed two days apart from each other, and he really hoped it wouldn't be a new trend he would be experiencing.

The gashes were…better than they looked—or at least he assumed. What's-his-face hadn't nicked any arteries (if there even were arteries that low in his leg, Henry wouldn't know). That being said, that didn't mean they were good. Kid Danger was lucky that the jackass was still moderately pinned, because the biggest stab wound was about half an inch deep. The other one was probably around a centimeter, if even.

But he would not be walking home any time soon. A sharp breath left the sidekick's nose, and he immediately pressed his gloved hands against the wound. He was bleeding pretty moderately, and he didn't particularly like the coppery smell.

A third cop had hustled up, followed by the woman from earlier. Henry quickly recognized him as the original officer from earlier.

He greeted both of them cheekily, hissing as he shifted to face them.

"Thanks, Kid Danger." The cop started, "I probably couldn't have been able to talk him down."

Henry was somewhat miffed that he didn't immediately ask if he needed help, which he obviously did, but he smiled and nodded his head in return. "I wouldn't have been there if you hadn't called it in."

He then turned to the woman, who, while obviously shaken up, had come out without any physical trauma—well, new physical trauma. The bruises that covered her face were hours old and obviously happened before the couple had entered the park.

"Are you okay?" He asked.

She frowned, eyes not leaving his ankle, and it took her a second to process that the blonde was addressing her. "What? Oh, yes I'm—I'm fine, it's...I'll get over it. Are you okay?" She asked, immediately bending down to reach Kid Danger's eye level, as he was still sitting on the ground.

As though to answer, a wave of pain was sent through his leg as the adrenaline started to wear off, and Henry grunted in pain. "I'll be fine." He dismissed, reaching with his less bloody hand to his pockets, feeling for his phone.

Shit, he must have lost it when he tackled the jackass.

Kid Danger scanned the immediate surroundings, leaning carefully as to not upset anything. "Uh...my phone's somewhere around here," he hesitated, causing the officer and woman to turn around, "I uh, need to call the Mancave...get someone to pick me up…" he trailed off, suddenly very aware of the spectators. He wouldn't put it past someone to try and steal his phone and use it for, like, blackmail or something.

"I'll go look for it." An officer said, and started back in direction Kid Danger had come from, leaving the woman alone with the sidekick.

She crouched unexpectedly, and Henry jumped slightly at the action. Hey, the adrenaline was wearing off, it didn't mean it was gone.

"You're gonna need something cleaner than your gloves for that, you know." She said, causing the sidekick's eyebrows—well, mask— to quirk up.

"Yeah I-I probably do...how…?"

"I'm a nurse, though disinfecting is practically common sense." she stated blatantly, a hint of a joke on the tongue. She leaned over and tapped his wrist as an indication for him to move it.

She reached into the small backpack she must have discarded during the earlier kerfuffle, and rummaged through it. She pulled out a small pack of gauze and some hand sanitizer. Her lips pressed together slightly in agitation as she accessed the products.

"It's not the best, but it's better than what you're doing right now—lay down, you need to reduce blood flow."

Henry didn't know if he was thankful or not. On one hand, he was glad that she had the Authority Aura around her that a lot of first responders tended to have. It kept the spectators at bay, which the sidekick was glad for because he knew he was all over the news.

On the other hand, this woman had literally almost been killed, and she was off duty. She shouldn't be doing this.

"You really don't have to do this, you know." Kid Danger stated, but slowly leaned back anyways as she replaced his hands with the sanitized gauze.

He gasped, and a curse fell past his lips as the germ-x or whatever it was came into contact with the stab wound.

She didn't flinch, probably used to the reaction. "You helped me, it's only fair I help you."

"It's my job to help people." Henry said stupidly.

"It's my job, too." She retorted back, and the sidekick mentally kicked himself. He blamed his dumb words on the after-fight exhaustion.

The officer came up a few seconds later, holding a dirty but uncracked phone with Henry's phone case on it.

He thanked the officer as he took it, and quickly unlocked it, speed dialing the Mancave since he didn't trust his fingers to text comprehensible words.

Jasper picked up, to Henry's surprise. "What's up, dude, everything go well?"

"Yeah, I just got stabbed in the leg a couple times." Kid Danger said in a deadpan.

Jasper sighed, as though the information was redundant.

"Good job, Mr. Superspeed."

Henry felt a stab of agitation ignite for a second at the comment, but he covered it up with a snort.

"Whatever. Anyways, I can't exactly walk out of here, can you send someone to pick me up?"

A shifting sound came from the other end as Jasper agreed, his voice growing slightly distant as he fiddled with his phone.

"Schwoz will be on his way in a moment, Kid Danger."

"Thanks, Dude. Hey, why are you in the Mancave? I thought you were still at—" Henry side-glanced his surroundings, pausing briefly to look at the nurse, who was still tending to his wound as well as possible but was definitely listening.

"That Place." He settled on, emphasizing the words and hoping Jasper got it.

"Oh, I'm still here. Schwoz was working on something that involved a lot of noise so he rerouted the hotline to my phone for an hour or two."

Kid Danger rolled his eyes. "Ah. Makes sense."

"Yeah. Talk to you this evening, Man."

"C'ya." The blonde said reluctantly, before ending the call. He set the phone down on his stomach for a minute or two, before the woman gasped slightly in surprise.

Well, it wasn't so much of a gasp as it was a noise of surprise, but either way, Kid Danger jolted his head up to find her staring in a bewildered way at his wound.

"What?"

She jumped slightly, eyes darting to him and glancing him up and down for a second before shaking her head. "Sorry, sorry, I've just—never worked with a superhero before...do you by any chance have...super healing?"

Henry didn't answer, and instead sat up to inspect the wound in confusion.

The woman continued upon seeing his perplexed look, "I don't know if that's what it's called, but—"

A lightbulb went off in the sidekick's head as he saw his flesh starting to mend, and he interrupted her with a slightly limp hand wave. "Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, no, you're fine I'm just—" he hesitated, wondering if he should say anything.

He caught her gaze for a second. "It's a...recent development."

She nodded her head maybe too vigorously, as though she were trying to compensate her shock with confidence. "Oh, oh yeah makes...makes sense."

She trailed off, and Henry had no doubt about what she was thinking about.

"I'm sorry 'bout that."

Kid Danger saw the Man Van pull up in the parking lot at that instant. He didn't know how fast Schwoz had driven to get here that fast, but he inwardly let out a sigh of relief anyways. The nurse caught on to this, and she turned to see what had caught the sidekick's attention.

"Oh, shoot, I still haven't bandaged this thing yet, hold still." She said sternly, sending a glare to Kid Danger as he shifted to put his phone back in his pocket.

He held up his hands in a defensive position. "You're the boss." He giggled, leaning back.

She sent him a grim smile, lips pressed together tightly as she wrapped him up.

"I will be, now that he's in jail."

Henry could only hope the smile he sent back was encouraging enough.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Error count - 18 :P
> 
> Anyways, If you're a US Citizen and eligible, GO REGISTER TO VOTE. IF UR NOT UR A CLOWN!
> 
> "Yall look at my kitty *GASP*...I just got cool ranch dorito dust on my cat I'm so sorry. U GUUD BRUH? Aw I-"
> 
> Until next time, my lovelies ;)
> 
> ~ LocalDragonHaunt

**Author's Note:**

> Uh, word.


End file.
